7 Gypsies ATC Box

Although I had a productive day I did not get anything new stamped. I spent the day getting my August Newsletter out to my customers, getting my Stamps By Mail bundles together as well as working on my Control Freaks Swap cards. So I will share with you a project I made at CHA. This is an adorable ATC card holder that uses 7 Gypsies products. It is such a cute holder and it can be adapted to hold a gift card a few pieces of candy. The box was very easy to assemble (I will have measurements in the next day or so) and was glued together with a glue stick. It stays together really well, although in replicating it I think I would use sticky strip instead. The top and bottom of the box we made at CHA used a template made out of a manilla folder type of consistency. We simply glued the paper on and cut around the template before assembling it. It went together really quickly and I am the queen of making 3-D projects harder than they really are. But even this one was simple enough for me to complete. After we made the box we made the premade tag by putting a rubon onto the tag and then rubbed gold foil over the rubon to make it nice and sparkly. Then we simply tied it all together with a nice green satiny ribbon.

Priceless Inspiration

If there was only one stamp set I was able to order out of the Fall-Winter Collection it would be Define Your Life. I love this set and it works so well with cards and scrapbook pages. I know it comes with a big price tag, but it was still #1 on my list. Here I combined it with my Priceless stamp set. The sketch is from Beate and was used for one of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenge cards. This is such a fun celebration! If you haven't signed up to be a fan club member you should do so now.

I used some of my favorite new InColors for the card and they are Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Kraft and Whisper White. I used my retired Corner rounder on the strip of cardstock and keep reminding myself to add the new corner rounder to my next order. To give it a lacy look I took my 1/16" hole punch and placed a hole in the center of each scallop. I then layered on the Soft Sky designer series paper. This paper is just gorgeous! I am going to be getting the Blue Bayou next. I love each and every color offered. I stamped the swirl from Priceless onto the Kraft paper with Versamark, used my cutter's tool kit to add a little dimension by running the perforating tool across the top and bottom edge and then distressed it as well. To finish it off I sponged some Purely Pomegranate ink onto the strip. The tag is made from Purely Pomegranate and Whisper White. The block is stamped in Soft Sky and the definition from Define Your Life in Wild Wasabli. I then took my horizontal slit punch and made a hole on my tag to put my Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon through and adhered it to the tag with a staple. The scallop punch was used on Wild Wasabi and then I stamped the flower 3 times on Whisper White in Purely Pomegrante, Blue Bayou and Wild Wasabi. It was so easy to punch out with my 1 3/8", 1" and 1/4" circle punches. I layered my pieces with Dimensionals and was done.

Remember that I am rebuilding my Blog Roll this week. If you want to be added just leave me a comment with your blog address and I'll get you added. Have a great Monday and I'm off to play and stamp.

Jenn

Do You Blog?

A few weeks ago my Blog Roll disappeared and I am planning on rebuilding it over the next week. If you have a blog and would like to be included in that section please post here with your Blog address and I will get you added to it. I love looking at different blogs and it's great when I can visit blogs of people who read mine and who comment here. Just leave a comment on this post and I'll get you added during the week.

Yesterday I got a bunch of stamping done! I actually finished 2 cards and got started on my Control Freaks Swap for the new catalog sets. I want to get them finished before August 1st when I am able to preorder the Holiday Mini sets. I am so excited that all of the sets in new mini catalogs are going to be die cut! Don't get me wrong, I love cutting and assembling stamps and I am a stickler at trimming. I get rid of as much extra rubber as possible and big orders can take me a day to assemble. However, there are times when I get a set and I would love to be able to stamp right away and this will fulfill that need for me. This card was made for Julia's Sketch for the Fan Club Challenges. I wanted to use my Eventful Hostess Level I set. I got it just for the Sweet Pea stamp as it is so cute. I also wanted to show off as much designer paper from the Fall Flowers assortment as possible. I chose Really Rust, Old Olive, Sahara Sand and Whisper White to compliment the colors in the paper. Most of the card is simple layering. I did stamp the new Polka Dot background stamp in Soft Sky before I stamped the Sweet Pea in JetBlack Stazon. I used my AquaPainter to color in the image with Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss and old Olive. I also added another layer of the pea by cutting it out and adhering it with Dimensionals. I actually opened my Double Stitched ribbon in Blue Bayou and it is simply gorgeous! The final element was the flowers from the Spring Bouquet Flower Punch with a vintage brad through the center to balance off the card. Congratulations from Hugs and Wishes was stamped in Old Olive.

Today we are going out to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. She turned 88 on the 26th. I hope all of you have a nice relaxing Sunday. I'll be back with a new card tomorrow.

Jenn

More or Less

One of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges from Jami involved More is More. In order to complete the challenge I needed to make 2 cards. One was to have "more" than the other. More involved extra punches, sponging, distressing or extra backgrounds to name a few of the endless possibilites. I used Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red, Soft Sky, Basic Gray and Whisper White for my color combination. On the first card I left the color layers each as one single layer. While on the second card I matted each layer with Basic Gray. The first card is fairly simple and doesn't involve any real extra embellishments or techniques. I used Baroque Motifs, Define Your Life and Garden Silhouettes for my stamp sets.

This second card I also used my Paisley background stamp on the main card layer. I added distressing to each of the layers, paper piercing, direct to paper inking, extra punches and extra brads. If you are new to stamping this will give you an idea of where to start and where you can go with your original card. It was fun creating the two same but unique cards for this challenge. I also used Beate's Sketch Challenge for the weekend. I altered the layer sized to make a 4 1/4 square card.

Jenn

Spectacular RAK from Simone

Just look at the wonderful card I got in the mail today in the mail as a blogger RAK from Simone. It is the perfect summer card and her coloring of the image is just perfect. I can almost smell the hamburgers and hotdogs grilling. If there is one thing I love about summer it is all of the cookouts and keeping my kitchen nice and cool. The pen she used to add the doodled dots to the scallop circle is so nice and shiny and it matches the brads that hold on the sentiment "what's cookin'?". If you haven't checked out her blog it is a must! There are many awesome projects for cards and scrapbook pages. This girl can certainly scrap! Plus you can check out all of the CHA pictures that she took last weekend. There is also a great blog candy give away of great CHA goodies, so head on over and let her know what your favorite CHA moments are and get a chance to win.

Thanks Simone!

Jenn

P.S. She also made the 2nd card in my post below and says the designer paper is from Chatterbox!

Priceless Challenge

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to participate in some of the Splitcoaststampers Fan Club Challenges and I certainly did challenge myself with the first card I made. It utilizes a window sheet, but since Stampin' Up! does not sell these anymore I used a Transparency that you can purchase in any Office Supply store. I think the window sheet would be more stable as a base, but I have seen so many cool clear cards these days I wanted to give my own a try. I first used my Priceless Classy Brass template and dry embossed the flower along the right edge of the card. It is hard to see in the picture and I had a problem not getting a glare on the shiny plastic front of the card. But trust me it is there. I then layered a piece of Purely Pomegranate on the back inside of my card to give some stability and to provide some color. I then layered Blue Bayou, Sage Shadow and River Rock. I meant to grab Mellow Moss, but I think the Sage Shadow adds to a nice color combination so I didn't go back and correct my own mistake. I stamped the swirl from Priceless with River Rock and then punched the corners with my ticket corner punch. I didn't want any adhesive to show through the front of my window sheet, so I used my Handy Dandy Crop-A-Dile and punched through all 4 layers (window sheet, and cardstock mats) to put eyelets through to hold the piece to the front of the card. The actual cardstock is layered inside of the card. I stamped the Priceless sentiment in Timber Brown Stazon and the color is really different on a window sheet as opposed to white cardstock, but I couldn't go back and remove it so it will do. I then added in Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate and Wild Wasabi the three flowers stamped on Whisper White and adhered with a glue dot. Now onto the next challenge.

We've been invaded!

We normally live in a relatively small quiet town except for 3 weeks every summer in late July and early August when all things start looking orange and blue. Signs are put up, resturants get crowded, tour buses drive in regularly and pigskins are flying. You'd think our town 50 miles south of Chicago might actually be part of the "burbs". That is when our town name changes from Bourbonnais, to Bearbonnais. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it is Chicago Bears training camp season and the players are arriving in town tonight. I forgot how easily it is to drive across town in less than 5 minutes while taking Colin to his music class tonight. Instead I sat in traffic as fans packed into Olivet Nazarene University waiting to see their favorite players appear. Bears camp also means that the summer is almost over and school will be starting again pretty soon. I can't wait! Maybe that will put me back on schedule and I'll actually have a chance to stamp. Colin will be starting his 2nd year of preschool and will be going 5 half days a week. Evan will be old enough (in November) to start going to All By Myself for an hour a week if we choose and I might actually be able to get the grocery shopping done in peace.

Here are two cards I made at CHA. I apologize that I do not remember which booths I even made these at. If I was better organized I would have packed a pen and some paper along with my camera. Instead I forgot those sitting at home along with the diaper bag. Luckily, I had packed the diapers or we would have had bigger issues on our hands. The top card uses rub ons, and I have actually never used them before CHA. I know, I live in a cave. The chipboard piece was sanded before we used a doodling template to add our pattern and then simply added the ribbon and rub on. The 2nd card used some gorgeous patterned paper and we stamped the images using acrylic stamps. I was happy at how easy it is to center an image when you can actually see through the block. Otherwise I usually stamp first and then punch out my circles.

I am sorry I forgot to update yesterday. I typed up a post with the first card in it, and it save instead of publish. I must have been having a "mommy" moment when I did that. They do say that each child takes 20 points off your IQ, so I can blame it on my kids. Tomorrow I am going to go downstairs and stamp no matter what happens. I really want to try out the challenges for the 3rd anniversary of the Fan Club Gallery at SCS. If you aren't a Fan Club member, you are missing out on some gorgeous creations.

Jenn

The Phone Call

Yesterday I was busy unpacking from my long weekend away and my Stamp Camp when the most important phone call came through. I love to read and often I surf for books from the comfort of my home and have them delivered to my library for me to pick up. It saves me the time of dragging both of the boys to the "adult" side of the library because we all know that they are magnetically attracted to the kids corner and any detour from that route is a complete chaotic expedition. There is no sense trying to visit on the way out either because we all know I have to drag both of them out kicking and screaming. My kids love to read too, and while I love to read to them, there is some sort of satisfaction about reading a book without colorful pictures or rhyming words in every sentence. A few years ago I learned a very valuable trick. When a library is aquiring a book they put it into their library card catalog (at least online). When a book, say Harry Potter is released it is very difficult to be the first one to get it from the library, unless you go into the system and place a hold on it while the library is aquiring it. I have gotten the last two books either the day they were released or shortly after! Yesterday about 4 pm they called to inform me that my copy of Harry Potter was available to pick up. I read a little last night and then again today when both boys napped! I am half way done and the book is great. I can't put it down. I hope to have it finished in the next day or so, so until then my stamping time is a little chaotic.

Lucky for you I have all of my CHA projects to give you a closer look at. This was made at the Scrapbooking Adhesives booth if my memory serves me correctly. I have to say I LOVED the way they taught me to put on the ribbon and paper border around the Altoid sized tin. They used Photo Tape and you simply run it from the box onto the tin, use the built in teeth to cut it and then peel off the backing. If you happen to cut a bit more than you need you simply fold it back on itself and then adhere whatever you need to. It was so much easier than the red liner tape! Now I have a nice festive tin to store my Christmas pictures of the boys in. I think the entire project was adorable.

Jenn

Beautiful RAK from Beate!

I walked out to the mailbox today to find this wonderful RAK from Beate Johns. I am sure you have all seen her blog. Her creations are simply amazing down to the smallest detail. This card is so adorable! The Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky are a great color combination and I love the subtle paisley pattern on the Old Olive designer prints paper. The deer from Moose You is stamped on Shimmery White cardstock and the coloring and shading is just perfect. Thank you for the wonderful card Beate! It really made my day.

Jenn

Priceless Congratulations

I made this card last week using Beate's sketch challenge and never had a chance to get it posted. I LOVE my new scallop punch. It is awesome! I started with a piece of River Rock cardstock and wheeled River Rock ink on with my So Swirly Jumbo wheel. I used So Saffron to mat my designer paper and sentiment. I love the new Le Jardin papers. They are so pretty and feminine. I did some dry embossing using my priceless classy brass template on the blue Le Jardin layer but you can't really see it in the photograph. I am having an issue with dry embossing. The light table I have puts out little to no light even after a light bulb change so I think I am going to get the official Stampin' Up! version. I hear it is wonderful. The butterflies are stamped in Soft Sky and placed on scallop circles. I used my 1/16" hole punch to add the holes into each scallop and then adhered them with dimensionals. Congratulations is stamped in Really Rust and is from Hugs and Wishes. The Define Your Life Definition is stamped in River Rock.

Over the weekend Audra nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger. I will have to look and see who has not yet been nominated. I have a few things to take care of around the house, but I promise I'll get to it this week.

Bazill Halloween Scrapbook

Here is an adorable scrapbook that we made after waiting in one of the longest Make n' Take lines at CHA. You can see why, the scrapbook is simply adorable! We paper pierced the template of the spider onto the green cardstock, sewed him on using embroidery floss and then layered him on purple cardstock and then onto chipboard. The chipboard was glued onto the scrapbook as was the black zig zag paper and then the bow was tied on. I was surprised at how fast the entire process went. This has me wanting to use paper and chipboard to decorate the front of our Stampin' Up! linen albums. Now I have a place to tuck away the boys Halloween pictures without all of the fuss of getting a new scrapbook for them.

Checking In from CHA!

I am home from CHA, but I wanted to show you a sneak peek of the goodies that I got to make over the last few days. Don't worry, I'll show you in more detail throughout the week, but I wanted to get something up here for you to look at. I haven't figured out what my favorite is yet, but I have a vague idea. I have a couple of projects that still need the finishing touches, like my Stampendous Pail and my ProvoCraft tin, but I will add the final details to those this week too. I hope all of you who have had the chance to go are having a blast and those of you who didn't will get to live vicariously through our posts. Have a great night! I am off to relax.

Failed Swap Card

I am working on my new Fall-Winter 2007 Collection swap and this is one of the cards that I came up with that didn't make the grade. I like the layout and I love the colors, but it just isn't right. I used River Rock, Really Rust, Old Olive and Very Vanilla for cardstock. The sentiment is from Hugs and Wishes and is stamped in really rust. Directly under it is a definition from Define Your Life and I stamped that in River Rock. I love the Old Olive and Sage Shadow Garden Silhouettes stamp. I think this color combination is just so pretty together. I tied a piece of natural hemp twine across the bottom of the image layer.

I'm leaving tonight for CHA! I will be there tomorrow and Saturday. I figured it would save on gas if I packed up Colin and Evan and spent the next two nights at my parent's house. They are closer to Rosemont, IL than I am and they are just down the road from Terry, my upline, who is going with me. I spent the morning doing laundry and cleaning the house. I can relax more and enjoy myself knowing that I can come home to a clean home. I just have to instruct my husband to keep it that way. He won't be meeting us until tomorrow evening since he still has to work.

Have a great weekend.

Jenn

CHA starts tomorrow!!!!

I am so excited! I was lucky enough to get a ticket a few months ago and I have been eagerly awaiting this weekend. I have a super simple card for you today since I didn't get much stamping time in at all. I have a class on Sunday and since I won't be home until late Saturday night I had 10 cards of 5 designs to cut out. Fifty cards take a bit of time, but I had my ideas planned and ready to go, so at least it was just the cutting and measuring part that I had to accomplish. I hope I can update about my fun at CHA, but incase I'm MIA you will know why. It runs from Thursday to Sunday and I have seen via blogs that there are going to be quite a few HUGE stamping names there.

This card uses Old Olive cardstock as a base. Then I layered Petals and Paisley paper in a great simple layout. I used Pretty in Pink for my scallop layer and then layered it with Taken with Teal and Whisper in White. The Petals from Polka Dots and Petals are stamped in Cool Caribbean and Taken with teal. There is a soft subtles brad in teh center. The sentiment from Hugs and Wishes shows up much better in real life and is stamped in Taken with Teal.

Here's to a great CHA weekend!

Best Butterflies

I had to do today's color challenge. I am trying to get my inspiration back. I love when I can envision a card in my head, put it on paper and then say "Wow, I made that". That is not happening much these last few days. I promise I'll keep plugging along.

Today's color combination was Bordering Blue, Not Quite Navy, Mellow Moss and Always Artichoke. I used Bordering Blue as my base and I stamped it with the Polka Dot background stamp. The Mellow Moss layer is wheeled with the Jumbo Whimsy wheel and I am in love with it. It is so subtle and whimsical. It goes so well with this stamp set too. I decided to use some HodgePodge Hardware instead of hoarding it and I laced some Cream grosgrain ribbon through it before attaching the ribbon together behind the layer with a glue dot. I then added the sentiment layer and used the retired corner rounder on the edges. I still have to order myself the new version and I hear that the corner is not as wide as this one. I added a splash of Rose Red in on my tulip and popped the flower up on dimensionals. I stamped the smallest butterfly in Bordering Blue, once on the card and once on a scrap piece of paper so that it appears to be 3-D. The card still needed a little something so I added the larger butterfly that is stamped in Bordering Blue and then rocked in Not Quite Navy to give it's wings a little more dimension. I had some sticky strip and added it just along the body so the wings are also popped up on the card.

It did end up raining today! We got about 3/4" of rain. We still need a lot more, but it did give me an excuse to stay inside and stamp instead of running around in the backyard with the boys. Colin had his eye appointment today and we got some good news. He doesn't have to patch, but we do have to have his prescription changed back in his left lens again. Now instead of his eye crossing in and him having problems with Amblyopia his eye is going out slightly. Our opthamologist thinks that it is because we had to increase the prescription in that lens when we came to a standstill with the patching about 6 months ago. We are still keeping our fingers crossed that his eye problems will all end soon, but at least he is young enough that he regained the sight in his eye. After the age of 7, the blindness can be permanent so we are lucky to have caught it so early.

Jenn

Priceless Definition

I actually got to sit down and stamp today! I took the boys outside all morning long and after lunch when Evan was napping and Colin was quietly curled up with a cartoon I decided to pull out some supplies and make a card. I wanted to try dry embossing, but I'm not sure if it is the light table I am borrowing or I am doing something wrong. I can't actually "see" the template under the paper. I can with Whisper White, but not with any other color. I have to do some trouble shooting and see what my issue is. I even went to the hardware store and bought a new light for the table. Oh, well, sometimes it takes a few times before I get a new technique down. Therefore, this card didn't even get finished until after dinner and a few errands. The sketch comes from the latest issue of PaperCrafts magazine which I had to get the other day on a trip to Michael's for a craft for Colin. He wants to make a fossil with clay and shells, but that is a whole other post. I am feeling so uncreative that I used the sketch for my inspiration. The cardstock is Blue Bayou, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White and Soft Sky Designer paper. I used Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate and Wild Wasabi for ink. The stamp sets are two of my favorites from the Fall-Winter 2007 Collection and are Priceless and Define Your Life.

I love my new scallop punch! I finally have one and it works. I must have gotten one of the good ones in the batch. I used my 1 1/4" circle punch for the Priceless flower and it matched up nicely. If you'd like less of a border the 1 3/8" circle punch would work with the scallop as well. I added an Ice Rhinestone brad in the center of the flower and set the entire layer up on dimensionals. Tomorrow we will hopefully get some rain! We have not gotten any real significant rainfall since Memorial Day and my plants and lawn desperately need some water. If it does rain I'm looking forward to a day filled with playing inside and stamping. Let's all pray for a rainy day.

A Long Needed Break!

I have been so very tired lately that my brain just doesn't feel like it can function properly, so today I decided to take a break. I barely checked my e-mail, didn't do any stamping and actually took a nap on the couch. I feel a little more rested, but I think an early and sorely needed bedtime is in store for tonight. I hope to be back to normal and stamping again tomorrow. So I am sorry for the lack of updates or projects these last few day.


I will leave you with an interesting new site I found though, for all you book readers. Dear Reader, will send you a 5 minute reading sample from books based on your reading preference. By the end of the week you will have read 2 - 3 chapters. If you like what you read then it's up to you to pick up the rest of the book. I am a HUGE reader, so I signed up as soon as I found it. I am very anxious for the release of Harry Potter and I hope I am first on the list at the library to get it. Janet Evanovich also has book number 13 out and as soon as my mom is done I know she'll pass it my way.


I hope you all had a relaxing and fun weekend heres to a great week! CHA is starting on Thursday and I can't wait to go. I will be attending on Friday and Saturday so I hope to get a bunch of great samples and new ideas.


Jenn

Unproductive Stamping Day

What is up? I got 10 new stamp sets and 2 new wheels in the last two days and I cannot create anything I like. Today I attempted to do the Sketch Challenge and pitched my unfinished project and then I wanted to make a slider card and I chose all of the wrong colors. But I had to post something so here is the only thing I finished today and I don't like it one bit. I like the layout and concept, and of course those are both not mine. I think it was Yvette (I don't have my swap in front of me, so I"m sorry if I am wrong) that sent in a slider card for the Control Freaks swap and I wanted to learn how to make one so I had my wonderful upline teach me and now I'm stuck. Does anyone have suggestions on where to go with this card? I'm open to any and I'll gladly repost the remade card, but my Stampin' inspiration bug has left the house.

I used Blue Bayou and River Rock for the cardstock with a piece of Whisper White for the butterfly from Garden Whimsy that is stamped in Purely Pomegranate. I used Absolutely Fabulous and All in a Row as well and those are stamped in Blue Bayou. The Whimsy Wheel was done in River Rock. I think I might have used too much River Rock. Other accessories included Stampin' Around Wheel Guide, Crafter's Tool kit, Silver Eyelets, 1/8" hole punch, dimensionals, glue dot and black gingham ribbon.

Hopefully tomorrow I can churn out a project that we will all like.

Caught Off Guard

The strangest thing happened today. I was expecting just one lone stamp set from UPS today. I was on the fence about getting Hugs and Wishes, but I saw so many cute ideas with it I had to get it before the Pre-order and the extra discount were gone forever. UPS pulls up to my house with my little tiny envelope and a box! My 5 Free Stampin' Start stamp sets arrived today! I spent hours mounting my stamps. I got Define Your Life, Fundamental Phrases, Defining Alpha, Jumbo Outline Alpha and Punch Pals. What a great surprise! My first catalog preorder will be here tomorrow along with more stamp sets and then on Friday I am getting new designer paper that I traded one of my old stamp sets for. Three Stampin' Up boxes in 3 days is so nice.

Here is a project Terry taught me to make yesterday. It uses a Scratch Pad from Office Max and a nice little pen. The base is made out of Soft Sky and is stamped with the Polka Dots from the Three for You punch box in Whisper White craft ink. Then it is layered with Soft Sky designer series paper and is embellished with 3 flowers from the Punch box and "Daily Notes" from Office Accoutrement. Other items used were paper snips, 1 1/4 and 1 3/8" circle punches and red gingham ribbon. The note pad is held in place with red tacky tape. I think I am going to have lots of fun recreating these and using the other new InColors in doing so too.

Here's to tomorrow and actually stamping with my new sets.

Jenn

Stamping Therapy

I had a fun stamping day today with my upline Terry. We got 3 projects done and would have probably completed more had I not had to go to pick up the boys for Colin's 2nd day of T-ball practice. I can get lost in time when I am stamping and it is so much more fun when you actually get to stamp with another person. Thank you Terry for a wonderful project filled day and for lunch!

This is a One Sheet Box and you can find a wonderful tutorial from Beate for it on Splitcoaststampers. I am not good at folding projects, and I am sure that Terry can attest to that, especially when she asked if I was getting it and I replied with an exasperated "No!". But with her help I got my sides folded and I think the project turned out really cute. We used Blue Bayou for the box and layered it with Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava and Whisper White. The flowers are stamped in Jetblack Stazon and colored in with AquaPainters. There is a rhinestone brad from the Ice collection in the middle of the flower. The oval punch is from Marvy Uchida, but we made made our own scallop layer with the retired corner rounder punch and the 1/8" hole punch. Happy Birthday is from It's Your Birthday and is also stamped in Jetblack Stazon. To finish the project off we used a Crop-a-dile to punch the holes and closed the box with black gingham ribbon.

Sentimental Journey

A few weeks ago after a stamping class my mom asked me if I had any ideas for invitations for my dad's retirement party. She needed to order stuff that day and get started on them in the next week or so. I was running super late to get to get back home to go to a birthday party that Colin was invited to, and I just happened to have my very first Control Freaks swap with me. My mom wanted a masculine card and I had loved the way Lisa Martz used Stamp of Authenticity in this card. The flowers are a little girly, and are not really up my dad's alley, so we decided to use Knobbly Gnomes instead and my mom used the general layout for the invites. She made 75 of them and lucky for her the box from Stampin' Up! was at her doorstop 5 days after I ordered it.


When she asked me a few days ago to make a Guest Book for all of my dad's friends to sign I asked her if she wanted me to make it to match the invitations and she already had a large On Board Art Journal on hand. Yesterday I got started on the notebook and so far this is the front cover of it. I am still debating if I should add ribbons to the binding, as I think it might make it too girly, but I will let it all fall in place as I continue to work on it during the week.


The papers are from Sentimental Journey, which is now retired. I covered the entire front with the brown polka dotted piece of designer paper, making a slit 5/8" down from the top and then I was able to use my spiral punch and make it line up perfectly with the binding on the book. I then added the bottom piece of striped paper to break up the brown and again I made the 5/8" slit, but from the bottom of the paper this time. It needed something to pull the two pieces of designer series paper together so I added the piece of basic black cardstock in the middle. The other cardstock is Sahara Sand and Buckaroo blue. The Gnome is colored in with re-inkers and an AquaPainter to make the colors really pop. I used the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, some retired Vintage brads and dimensionals on the circle layer. For good measure I added a piece of black gingham ribbon around the layer with the gnome. I plan to get started on the inside of the book later today. I have to have something to keep me busy until my newest order arrives from Stampin' Up!. I thought it was going to be here Wednesday, which I thought was the 12th, but I am a day off. Oh well, Thursday will hopefully be here before I know it.


Jenn

Pomegranate Petals

Have you ever been so busy creating that your mind just shuts down? That happens to me sometimes especially when I am in a time crunch. I had 4 out of the 5 cards we were going to complete for my Hostess Club meeting today and the kids started to get squirelly and I started to panic. That is when I pulled out my Control Freaks swap cards and came upon one like this made by Jena H. I don't have the Three for You Punch Box, so I made a few substitutions, but I did keep her color scheme and layout. Thank you Jena for a wonderful swap card and a great class project!

The base is Purely Pomegranate and I used the polka dot background from Itty Bitty Backgrounds along the right edge of the card. I then used the slit punch and placed my So Saffron layer so it went under the slit in the Pomegranate paper. I then used the 1/8" hole punch and tied some Black Gingham ribbon through the hole. The sentiment is from Warm Words and is stamped in More Mustard. The Pick a Petal Flower is stamped in So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate and Wild Wasabi. These new colors are fabulous and so rich!

I hope you all had a great weekend and I can't wait to share some new projects with you over the next week. I am working on a special project for my dad, who just retired and is celebrating next week with a party. My mom asked if I could make a book that all of the guest could sign. I am making it to match the invitations my mom made and I will include pages for guests to sign as well as pages for pictures to be added from the party. That will be my biggest project of the week and I hope it turns out perfectly.

Jenn

Case that Vase

Often people who take my classes tell me they love to do so because I have everything planned, precut and beautifully laid out before them. I often have elaborate projects and new exciting ideas, and then they ask me, "How did you think of that?". My reply is often I got inspiration from a sketch challenge, or I saw someone on SCS do something similar, or it was something that just happened by accident as I was busy creating. I realized that not everyone has the time or the ability to spend thier days stamping. I often sit back and I am amazed that I can spend most of my time doing something I absolutely love and share it with others. Not many people are fortunate enough do this. However, with this catalog, I want to be able to show my customers and class participants that you don't need to spend hours stamping, or create elaborate projects. We have the best tool in our hands! The Fall-Winter 2007 Catalog is simply amazing! I don't know how many times I have flipped through the pages, but I always notice something new that I didn't see before. My wishlist is a mile long. In this catalog we have the tools we need to create wonderful projects by CASEing catalog samples. This particular card is CASE'd from a sample on page 22 and I of course had to add my own flair and touches to the card to make it mine. If you are a seasoned stamper or someone completely new to stamping, pick up your catalog and find something that inspires you. I bet once you get to stamping you'll keep on going and create something fabulous on your own.


This card uses the Vases in Vogue, Level III Hostess stamp set. I was able to pre-order this set a month or so ago. The base is Groovy Guava and it is layered with Mellow Moss and Soft Sky. I stamped the flower in Groovy Guava on the base layer and highlighted the center with my white gel pen. I then used my Crafter's Tool kit and mat pack to paper pierce my Soft Sky layer and then added the faux stitching with my white gel pen. The sentiment and flowers are stamped in Timber brown stazon, as are the vases. I used Naturals White cardstock for the vases, and colored them in with my AquaPainter and new InColors. The vases are set up on dimensionals.

Waste Not, Want Not

I have always prided myself on being fairly frugal, or if you want a harsher word to describe myself - cheap. Before Roger and I were married we used to have contests on who could be the cheapest. What a contest to have! LOL. We used to split the grocery bill down to the last penny and we kept all of our finances seperate until we were married. He'd pay for one date out, I'd get the next. Why we did this, we don't know, but until we were married we kept our paychecks to ourselves and paid our own bills, even though we both owned the same house. Our augments weren't based on any solid evidence, just our silly beliefs. His argument was that he was German and therefore the cheapest. My argument, I was Polish and therefore the cheapest. This went on for years, that is until I won! We went with friends, now Colin's Godparents, to Wisconsin for a vacation inbetween me teaching the regular school year and summer school. On our way home we stopped in The Dells and we found a Polish buffet to eat at where they charged you $1.50 per plate if they deemed you had too many leftovers on your plate. I have never been to a buffet that charged you both to eat there and for the food you left on your plate. I was declared the Hands Down Winner! I always knew I was right.

Why the tangent? This card was made totally from scraps. I didn't have to break into a single piece of new cardstock, ribbon, container of brads or dimensionals. This is for the Limited Supplies Challenge that was posted today, which challenged me to make a card that CASE'd a sample from the new catalog. I chose a card on page7 that used Baroque Motifs. My colors for ink and cardstock include, Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie and Always Artichoke. I used some Vintage Brads and Cream Grosgrain ribbon. I use every single piece of foam dimensional in the pack including the small tiny borders surrounding the hexagons in the package. This card made use of those very scraps. I hate to throw anything out or waste a single cent.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I will post if I have a chance, but I am busy getting ready for my 1st Hostess Club meeting of the new catalog.

Jenn

I've been tagged

Dawn at Stampin' Fun! tagged me the other day.

The details:
Post 7 Random things about myself
Post the 7 people I tagged here
Post the rules in your post
Leave a comment at the blogs I tagged

7 Random Things about myself:

1. I grew up in the city of Chicago 3 houses away from a cemetary. Our favorite game to play among the graves was Ghost in the Graveyard.

2. When Poltergiest came out I was in grade school. I convinced my mom that would not be scared if she let me watch the movie. I spent the next few months sleeping with a rosary hoping that our house was not accidentally placed on any stray grave sites.

3. The year I started 6th grade my parents moved to Wheaton, IL and I attended public school for the first time. Until that point I had gone to a Presbyterian preschool, Lutheran Kindergarten and a Catholic Grade School. Chicago public schools leave a lot to be desired.

4. I started playing the clarinet in 3rd grade and played until I was in 12th grade. I was in symphonic band, concert band, pep band and marching band. I stopped playing in college when TMJ was at its worst and my jaw would pop painfully every few minutes.

5. In college I went on a foreign study program to the University of Sheffield, in Sheffield England. I was there for 6 months and spent a great deal of time travelling around Great Britain and Europe. I spent all of the money I had earned working up to this point to do so and it was a great experience.

6. I met my husband, 8 1/2 years ago, on the internet. We have been married for almost 6 years. It was a freak coincidence that we even met.

7. I taught high school for 6 years in two different schools before I became a Stay-at-home-Mom. I have my Master's Degree in Special Education and specialized in Learning Disibilities and Behavior Disorders.

8. I clean my house almost everyday. Colin has very bad allergies and to help combat them I vacuum every morning, wipe down bathroom and kitchen counters and make all of the beds. Every other day I dust all of the rooms and every 3rd day I wash all of my floors. If it saves us trips to the Pediatrician for strep tests and medicine it is worth the extra effort. I have my routine down to under an hour and sometimes under 30 minutes if the kids are cooperating.

I tag:
Terry
Beate
Ana
Connie
Laurie
Toni
Jen


Ooops, I posted 8 random things about myself. Oh, well. This is one of my favorite tagging games because I love reading all of the answers everyone comes up with and I love the memories this game brings.

Have a great day! I'll have a card later today.

Jenn

The Weather Outside

is frightfully hot! Today was a good day to be inside with the air conditioning on. Today was supposed to be a day to kick back and relax and it turned into an errand filled go until you drop day. I finally now just had a chance to stamp after the kids were to bed and hubby had to run to the hardware store for a lock to the backyard gate. Evan has learned to escape, and that is not a good thing at all.

Anyway, my friend Becky and I were talking on the phone and she inquired what InColor combination would make a good Christmas card, so I put this together for her. The cardstock and ink colors are Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Whisper White and JetBlack Stazon. I used my AquaPainter and re-inkers to color my image in. I had originally used the Christmas trees, but I didn't like my shading so in a last ditch effort to save the card I went with the snowmen instead. I stamped the background image from the set and lined it up using my Stamp-a-ma-jig. It is a very useful tool especially when it came to stamping the sentiment. The sentiment in Festive Favorites is 3 lines and is block shaped. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stretch it out under the main stamped image. The Way to Use It Challenge today is to use ribbon, so I added some Silver Organdy ribbon that I wove under the image by punching a slot into each side of the framed image and then tying it off with a bow.

It has been a long day, so I'll keep this post short and sweet. I hope you all have a great evening and I hope to get a lot of stamping accomplished tomorrow.

Jenn

Feline Friends

I hope you are all having a great 4th of July! We don't have any big celebrations planned here. It doesn't even really feel like the 4th of July, unless you step out into the humidity. The fireworks were on Sunday, and our neighborhood is so very quiet. I don't know if the holiday falling on a Wednesday has anything to do with it or not. We did take the kids outside and let them play in the new pool they bought. Colin wanted to cash in on his piggy bank and Evan added a little money in too. I think it is important to teach them the value of earning things right from the start. They do steal all of our left over change anyway. I think we are just going to hang out and have a little barbeque of our own and have a nice relaxing day.

Today is Sketch Challenge day and I am forcing myself to stamp. I don't know about you, but sometimes I lose my inpiration and my creative streak, but I'll get through it. It's harder to get back into it if I just completely stop, so hopefully the challenge will help me get my inspiration back. I am also working very hard on using up my retired accessories and paper so I thougth I'd use a retired stamp set as well. The cat and sentiment are from Little Hellos. I stamped the image with Jetblack Stazon and colored it in with my Watercolor Wondercrayons and an AquaPainter. I then layered it on Cool Caribbean and Chocolate Chip, although it looks more black in my photo. I used my 3/4" circle punch to punch out the sentiment and then I matted it on Tempting Turquoise and popped it up on dimensionals. I will love it when my 1" cirlce punch arrives and I won't have to free hand it anymore. I used some of my Loves Me designer series paper and used some white grosgrain ribbon to hide the seam. I don't know about you, but I have tons of the silver diamond shaped Vintage brads left over, so in wanting to get rid of some I used them on strips I punched out with my Word Window punch. The base of the card is Cool Caribbean.

Have a great 4th!

Jenn

P.S. Does anyone know what is up with blogger? First my posts take forever to appear and now my Blogs I Read section is missing. I'll get it reloaded when I have a few spare minutes.

Raindrops on Roses

and whiskers on kittens . . . These are a few of My Favorite Things. Today was a nice happy mail day. I found these images from My Favorite Things, thanks to Kathy, just waiting to be colored in and made into a card. I decided to go with the color combo for today's challenge on Splitcoaststampers, which was Pretty in Pink, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. Anyone who knows me would be shocked to know that one of my favorite color combinations is Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip. I am so not a pink person and much prefer the blue hues, but I even surprised myself.

I colored in my image with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons. I LOVE them! I am so glad I own all of the color families, but I tend to hoard them and not share. I of course had to use my AquaPainter as well. I have never watercolored with a regular brush, why would I when I have this handy tool right at my fingertips. I stamped my Paisley background stamp in Pretty in Pink on matching cardstock and then I used my white gel pen to highlight some of the pattern and soften it up a bit. I then layered a piece of Old Olive that I paper pierced and added faux stitching with my basic black Stampin' Write marker. I layered the My Favorite Things image on Old Olive, which is also paper pierced and faux stitched, and then added another layer of Chocolate Chip. The entire layer is popped up on dimensionals. The sentiment is from Greetings Galore and is stamped in Old Olive before being punched out with my small oval punch and is matted on Chocolate Chip that was punched with my large oval punch. I thought about using other embellishments but I like the simplicity of the layout.

I don't know if I will get a chance to post tomorrow. Have a safe and happy holiday!

Jenn

My Friend

I love the Carte Postal stamp set and I am so glad that it made the Fall-Winter 2007 Collection. If you haven't seen the new catalog it is a must! Click on the link above and it will take you right to Stampin' Up!'s home page. I am thrilled with this catalog and I hope all of you are too. It is simpy stunning. My wallet is going to be empty over the next six months. Yesterday I had the day to myself and I literally spent it cleaning, sorting out my old stamps, replacing my old In Colors with the new, and placing my first order of the year. I am so excited! I got 5 Free stamp sets and I ordered Define Your Life, Defining Alphabet, Jumbo Outline Alphabet, Fundamental Phrases and Punch Pals. Plus I placed an order on my own for Garden Whimsy, Priceless, Whimsy Wheel, So Swirly Wheel and a ton of other things. Now I can't wait until they ship.

Today I put ink to paper and created a card for the Featured Stamper Challenge which featured Faith, also known as Markie's Mom. I used her Eat Cake card as inspiration for my card. My cardstock colors are Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava and Whisper White. I used the flourish from Baroque Motifs, stamped it on with Versamark and embossed it with crystal clear embossing powder. On my smallest layer of whisper white cardstock I stamped the flourish from Carte Postal in Close to Cocoa after stamping off once on a piece of scratch paper and then added the sentiment in Groovy Guava. To get the medallion I stamped it 3 times on Whisper White cardstock in River Rock, Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranate. I adhered the layers together with Stampin' Dimensionals. I used my ticket corner punch on all 4 corners before matting it on Groovy Guava and Close to Cocoa. I paper pierced the 2 larger matted layers and added vintage brads. The layer is also set up on dimensionals. Lastly I stamped the bird image after stamping off Close to Cocoa, trimmed it out and place it up on yet another dimensional. All in all this was a fun card to make.


I am so glad that I got a chance to stamp today! I hope I can get a bit more done tonight.


Jenn

Retired Items for Sale

I have several retired items that I feel I can part with to make way for new items in my collection. The prices listed are 20% off the catalog price and are in good condition. Prices do not include shipping. If there is anything you are interested in please e-mail me at startstampin@comcast.net . Paypal is the preferred method of payment. All are closely trimmed and mounted unless otherwise specified.

Jenn


Nice and Easy Notes $18
Paper Piecing Punch $10
Big Blossom (SAB 2007) $8
Warmest Regards $12

Updated: 7/16